Israel, 2012

It is a pleasure to see the

General Assembly presided over by the Ambassador from Israel, and it is good to see all of the representatives

here.

Three thousand years ago, King David reigned

over the Jewish State in our eternal capital, Jerusalem.

I say that to all those who proclaim that the Jewish

State has no roots in our region and that it will soon

disappear. Throughout our history, the Jewish people

have overcome all the tyrants who have sought our

destruction. It is their ideologies that have been

discarded by history. The people of Israel live on. We

say in Hebrew, the Jewish State will live forever.

The Jewish people have lived in the land of Israel

for thousands of years. Even after most of our people

were exiled from it, Jews continued to live in the land

of Israel throughout the ages. The masses of our people

never gave up the dream of returning to our ancient

homeland. Defying the laws of history, we did just that.

We ingathered the exiles, restored our independence

and rebuilt our national life. The Jewish people have

come home. We will never be uprooted again.

Yesterday was Yom Kippur, the holiest day of

the Jewish year. Every year, for over three millennia,

we have come together on this day of reflection and

atonement. We take stock of our past. We pray for our

future. We remember the sorrows of our persecution;

we remember the great travails of our dispersion; we

mourn the extermination of a third of our people,

6 million, in the Holocaust.

But at the end of Yom Kippur, we celebrate. We

celebrate the rebirth of Israel. We celebrate the heroism

of our young men and women who have defended our

people with the indomitable courage of Joshua, David

and the Maccabees of old. We celebrate the marvel

of the flourishing modern Jewish State. In Israel we

walk the same paths as those trodden by our patriarchs

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But we blaze new trails in

science, technology, medicine and agriculture. In Israel

the past and the future find common ground.

Unfortunately, that is not the case in many other

countries. For today, a great battle is being waged

between the modern and the medieval. The forces of

modernity seek a bright future in which the rights of

all are protected, in which an ever-expanding digital

library is available in the palm of every child, in which

every life is sacred.

The forces of medievalism seek a world in which

women and minorities are subjugated, in which knowledge is suppressed, in which not life but death

is glorified. Those forces clash around the globe, but

nowhere more starkly than in the Middle East. Israel

stands proudly with the forces of modernity. We protect

the rights of all our citizens, men and women, Jews and

Arabs, Muslims and Christians — all are equal before

the law.

Israel is also making the world a better place. Our

scientists win Nobel Prizes. Our know-how is in every

cell phone and computer that every one of us uses. We

prevent hunger by irrigating arid lands in Africa and

Asia. Recently, I was deeply moved when I visited

Technion, one of our technological institutes in Haifa,

and I saw a man paralysed from the waist down climb

up a f light of stairs, quite easily, with the aid of an

Israeli invention. And Israel’s exceptional creativity is

matched by our people’s remarkable compassion. When

disaster strikes anywhere in the world — in Haiti,

Japan, India, Turkey, Indonesia and elsewhere — Israeli

doctors are among the first on the scene, performing

lifesaving surgeries.

In the past year, I lost both my father and my

father-in-law. In the same hospital wards where they

were treated, Israeli doctors were treating Palestinian

Arabs. In fact, every year, thousands of Arabs from

the Palestinian territories and Arabs from throughout

the Middle East come to Israel to be treated in Israeli

hospitals by Israeli doctors. I know that that is not

going to be spoken by speakers at this podium, but it

is the truth. It is important that the world be aware of

that truth. It is because Israel cherishes life that Israel

cherishes peace and seeks peace. We seek to preserve

our historic ties and our historic peace treaties with

Egypt and Jordan. We seek to forge a durable peace

with the Palestinians.

President Abbas just spoke here. I say to him and

I say to the Assembly: we will not solve our conflict

with libellous speeches at the United Nations. That is

not the way to solve it. We will not solve our conflict

with unilateral declarations of statehood. We have

to sit together, negotiate together and reach a mutual

compromise, in which a demilitarized Palestinian State

recognizes the one and only Jewish State.

Israel wants to see a Middle East of progress and

peace. We want to see the three great religions that

sprang forth from our region — Judaism, Christianity

and Islam — coexist in peace and in mutual respect. Yet the medieval forces of radical Islam, which

the world just saw storming American Embassies

throughout the Middle East, oppose that. They seek

supremacy over all Muslims. They are bent on world

conquest. They want to destroy Israel, Europe, America.

They want to extinguish freedom. They want to end the

modern world.

Militant Islam has many branches, from the rulers

of Iran with their Revolutionary Guards to Al-Qaida

terrorists to the radical cells lurking in every part of the

globe. But despite their differences, they are all rooted

in the same bitter soil of intolerance. That intolerance

is directed first at their fellow Muslims and then at

Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, secular people,

and anyone who does not submit to their unforgiving

creed. They want to drag humankind back to an age of

unquestioning dogma and unrelenting conflict.

I am sure of one thing. Ultimately, they will fail.

Ultimately, light will penetrate the darkness. We

have seen that happen before. Some 500 years ago,

the printing press helped pry a cloistered Europe

out of a dark age. Eventually, ignorance gave way to

enlightenment. So too, a cloistered Middle East will

eventually yield to the irresistible power of freedom

and technology. When that happens, our region will be

guided not by fanaticism and conspiracy but by reason

and curiosity.

I think the relevant question is not whether this

fanaticism will be defeated. It is how many lives will

be lost before it is defeated. We have seen that happen

before too. Some 70 years ago, the world saw another

fanatic ideology bent on world conquest. It went down

in flames, but not before it took millions of people with

it. Those who opposed that fanaticism waited too long

to act. In the end they triumphed, but at a horrific cost.

My friends, we cannot let that happen again. At

stake is not merely the future of my own country. At

stake is the future of the world. Nothing could imperil

our common future more than the arming of Iran with

nuclear weapons. To understand what the world would

be like with a nuclear-armed Iran, just imagine the

world with a nuclear-armed Al-Qaida. It makes little

difference whether these lethal weapons are in the

hands of the world’s most dangerous terrorist regime or

the world’s most dangerous terrorist organization. They

are both fired by the same hatred; they are both driven

by the same lust for violence. Just look at what the Iranian regime has done up

until now, without nuclear weapons. In 2009, they

brutally put down mass protests for democracy in their

own country. Today, their henchmen are participating

in the slaughter of tens of thousands of Syrian

civilians, including thousands of children — directly

participating in those murders. They abetted the killing

of American soldiers in Iraq and continue to do so

in Afghanistan. Before that, Iranian proxies killed

hundreds of American troops in Beirut and in Saudi

Arabia. They have turned Lebanon and Gaza into terror

strongholds, embedding nearly 100,000 missiles and

rockets in civilian areas. Thousands of such rockets and

missiles have already been fired at Israeli communities

by their terrorist proxies.

In the past year, they have spread their international

terror networks to two dozen countries across five

continents, from India and Thailand to Kenya and

Bulgaria. They have even plotted to blow up a restaurant

a few blocks from the White House in order to kill a

diplomat. And of course, Iran’s rulers repeatedly deny

the Holocaust and call for Israel’s destruction almost

on a daily basis, as they did again this week from the

United Nations.

So I ask, given this record of Iranian aggression

without nuclear weapons, just imagine Iranian

aggression with nuclear weapons. Imagine their long-

range missiles tipped with nuclear warheads, their

terror networks armed with atomic bombs. Who here

would feel safe in the Middle East? Who would be safe

in Europe? Who would be safe in America? Who would

be safe anywhere?

There are those who believe that a nuclear-armed

Iran can be deterred like the Soviet Union. That is a

very dangerous assumption. Militant jihadists behave

very differently from secular Marxists. There were

no Soviet suicide bombers. Yet Iran produces hordes

of them. Deterrence worked with the Soviets, because

every time the Soviets faced a choice between their

ideology and their survival, they chose their survival.

But deterrence may not work with the Iranians once

they get nuclear weapons.

A great scholar of the Middle East, Professor

Bernard Lewis, put it best. He said that for the ayatollahs

of Iran mutually assured destruction is not a deterrent,

it is an inducement. Iran’s apocalyptic leaders believe

that a medieval holy man will reappear in the wake

of a devastating holy war, thereby ensuring that their brand of radical Islam will rule the Earth. That is not

just what they believe; it is what is actually guiding

their policies and their actions. Just listen to Ayatollah

Rafsanjani who said, “the use of even one nuclear bomb

inside Israel will destroy everything, however it would

only harm the Islamic world.” Rafsanjani said: “It is

not irrational to contemplate such an eventuality”. “Not

irrational” is what he said. And that is coming from one

of the so-called moderates of Iran.

Shockingly, some people have begun to peddle the

absurd notion that a nuclear-armed Iran would actually

stabilize the Middle East. That is like saying a nuclear-

armed Al-Qaida would usher in an era of universal

peace.

I have been speaking about the need to prevent Iran

from developing nuclear weapons for over 15 years.

I spoke about it in my first term in office as Prime

Minister, and then I spoke about it when I left office.

I spoke about it when it was fashionable, and I spoke

about it when it was not fashionable.

I speak about it now because the hour is getting

late, very late. I speak about it now because the Iranian

nuclear calendar does not take time out for anyone or

for anything. I speak about it now because when it

comes to the survival of my country, it is not only my

right to speak, it is my duty to speak. And I believe that

it is the duty of every responsible leader who wants to

preserve world peace.

For nearly a decade, the international community

has tried to stop the Iranian nuclear programme with

diplomacy. That has not worked. Iran uses diplomatic

negotiations as a means to buy time to advance its nuclear

programme. For over seven years, the international

community has tried sanctions with Iran. Under the

leadership of President Obama, the international

community has passed some of the strongest sanctions

to date.

I want to thank the Governments represented here

that have joined in that effort. It has had an effect. Oil

exports have been curbed and the Iranian economy

has been hit hard. It has had an effect on the economy,

but we must face the truth. Sanctions have not stopped

Iran’s nuclear programme either.

According to the International Atomic Energy

Agency, during the last year alone, Iran doubled the

number of centrifuges in its underground nuclear

facility in Qom. At this late hour, there is only one way to peacefully prevent Iran from getting atomic bombs.

That is by placing a clear red line on Iran’s nuclear

weapons programme.

Red lines do not lead to war. Red lines prevent war.

Look at NATO’s charter. It made clear that an attack on

one member country would be considered an attack on

all. NATO’s red line helped keep the peace in Europe

for nearly half a century. President Kennedy set a red

line during the Cuban missile crisis. That red line

also prevented war and helped preserve the peace for

decades.

In fact, it is the failure to place red lines that has

often invited aggression. If the Western Powers had

drawn clear red lines during the 1930s, I believe they

would have stopped Nazi aggression, and the Second

World War might have been avoided. In 1990, if

Saddam Hussein had been clearly told that his conquest

of Kuwait would cross a red line, the first Gulf War

might have been avoided.

Clear red lines have also worked with Iran. Earlier

this year, Iran threatened to close the Straits of Hormuz.

The United States drew a clear red line and Iran backed

off. Now, red lines could be drawn in different parts of

Iran’s nuclear weapons programme, but to be credible,

a red line must be drawn first and foremost in one vital

part of their programme: on Iran’s efforts to enrich

uranium.

Now let me explain why. Basically, any bomb

consists of explosive material and a mechanism to

ignite it. The simplest example is gunpowder and a

fuse — that is, you light the fuse and you set off the

gunpowder. In the case of Iran’s plans to build a nuclear

weapon, the gunpowder is enriched uranium. The

fuse is a nuclear detonator. For Iran, amassing enough

enriched uranium is far more difficult than producing

the nuclear fuse. For a country like Iran, it takes many

years to enrich uranium for a bomb. That requires

thousands of centrifuges spinning in tandem in very

big industrial plants. Those Iranian plants are visible

and they are still vulnerable.

In contrast, Iran could produce the nuclear

detonator, the fuse, in a lot less time — maybe under a

year, maybe only a few months. The detonator can be

made in a small workshop the size of a classroom. It

may be very difficult to find and target that workshop,

especially in Iran. That is a country that is bigger than

France, Germany, Italy and Britain combined. The

same is true for the small facility in which they could assemble a warhead or a nuclear device that could be

placed in a container ship. Chances are you will not

find that facility either.

So in fact, the only way that you can credibly

prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, is to

prevent Iran from amassing enough enriched uranium

for a bomb. So how much enriched uranium do you

need for a bomb, and how close is Iran to getting it?

Let me show you. I brought a diagram for you. Here

is the diagram. This is a bomb. This is a fuse.

In the case of Iran’s nuclear plans to build a bomb,

this bomb has to be filled with enough enriched

uranium, and Iran has to go through three stages. In

the first stage they have to enrich enough low-enriched

uranium; in the second stage they have to enrich enough

medium-enriched uranium. And in the third, and

final, stage they have to enrich enough high-enriched

uranium for the first bomb.

Where is Iran? Iran has completed the first stage. It

took them many years, but they completed it, and they

are 70 per cent of the way there. Now they are well

into the second stage. By next spring, at most by next

summer, at current enrichment rates, they will have

finished the medium enrichment and moved on to the

final stage. From there, it is only a few months, possibly

a few weeks, before they get enough enriched uranium

for the first bomb.

What I told the Assembly just now is not based

on secret information. It is not based on military

intelligence. It is based on public reports of the

International Atomic Energy Agency. Anybody can

read them. They are online.

So if these are the facts — and they are — where

should a red line be drawn? A red line should be drawn

right here, before Iran completes the second stage of

nuclear enrichment necessary to make a bomb and

before Iran gets to a point where it is a few months away

or a few weeks away from amassing enough enriched

uranium to make a nuclear weapon.

Each day, that point is getting closer. That is why

I speak today with such a sense of urgency, and that is

why everyone should have a sense of urgency.

There are some who claim that even if Iran

completes the enrichment process, even if it crosses

that red line that I just drew, our intelligence agencies

will know when and where Iran will make the fuse, assemble the bomb and prepare the warhead. No one

appreciates our intelligence agencies more than the

Prime Minister of Israel. All these leading intelligence

agencies are superb, including ours. They have foiled

many attacks, they have saved many lives, but they

are not foolproof. For over two years, our intelligence

agencies did not know that Iran was building a huge

nuclear enrichment plant under a mountain. Do we

want to risk the security of the world on the assumption

that we would find a small workshop in a country half

the size of Europe in time?

The relevant question is not when Iran will get

the bomb. The relevant question is at what stage can

we no longer stop Iran from getting the bomb? The

red line must be drawn on Iran’s nuclear enrichment

programme because these enrichment facilities are the

only nuclear installations that we can definitely see and

credibly target.

I believe that faced with a clear red line, Iran will

back down. This will give more time for sanctions and

diplomacy to convince Iran to dismantle its nuclear

weapons programme altogether.

Two days ago, from this podium, President Obama

reiterated that the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran cannot

be contained (see A/67/PV.6). I very much appreciate

the President’s position, as does everyone in my country.

We share the goal of stopping Iran’s nuclear weapons

programme. This goal unites the people of Israel. It

unites Americans, Democrats and Republicans alike.

and it is shared by important leaders throughout the

world. What I have said today will help ensure that this

common goal is achieved. Israel is in discussions with

the United States over this issue, and I am confident

that we can chart a path forward together.

The clash between modernity and medievalism

need not be a clash between progress and tradition. The

traditions of the Jewish people go back thousands of

years. They are the source of our collective values and

the foundations of our national strength. At the same

time, the Jewish people have always looked towards the

future. Throughout history, we have been at the forefront

of efforts to expand liberty, promote equality and

advance human rights. We champion those principles

not in spite of our traditions but because of them. We

heed the words of the Jewish prophets Isaiah, Amos and

Jeremiah to treat all with dignity and compassion, to

pursue justice and cherish life and to pray and strive for

peace. Those are the timeless values of my people, and they are the Jewish people’s greatest gift to humankind.

Let us commit ourselves today to defending those

values so that we can defend our freedoms and protect

our common civilization.